The Black Paladins
by egomaniacexile
Summary: Part of an ability wielding race extinct by the hand of the Galra Empire, Leda has spent her life searching for proof her people still exist, all the while fearing her place in the universe should she truly be the last Grecian. Only with the help of team Voltron and an inexplicable connection with the Black Lion can she overcome this fear and possibly find her family. S2 oriented.
1. Prologue

**_TWELVE YEARS AGO_**

There were fireworks, exploding with colors and variant sounds against the night sky. The stars, though far, couldn't compare to the light show ahead. Reds, blues, yellows; the designs simple spheres and the colors basic, but from where Leda sat in her mothers lap it looked like one magical rainbow, and where the spheres intersected so did the colors brightening up the sky even more.

With a cheer, she reached a pale grey hand, squealing at the painted sky. Around her others did the same, elders watching the youth dance, and the youth dancing their life into the planet from every end. The lights were beautifully simple against the festivities, the people plain in their dance and appearance though covered by the tints of the explosions above. They glowed bright yellows, others fiery in the red, but the blues were masked as a purple hue fell to the sky and on their skin. Festivities immediately replaced with fear. Leda felt her mothers arms clutch around her child body. Before she knew it, they were all screaming.

Orange fire replaced the colored light show in the sky as the purple descended. As her mother ran with her tightly held in place she had time to look at the surrounding faces, at those who made barriers with their hands and watched them fell, and those who multiplied their grey frames to fight until all mirrors of themselves were stuck down. She could see the blues now, but it wasn't from the stars; blood striking the ground in dangerous splatters and even on the skins of others. The chaotic fire reached the planet and Leda found herself beginning to cry. It was too hot now, her mothers grip too tight. With a tear, she reached a pale grey hand to the surrounding, dwindling crowd, crying at the sky.

"Leda? Leda!" amongst the screams came a familiar voice and she found herself pushed into her father's arms. Her mother apologized, her father screamed, and then she watched as her mother bolted back into the crowd, disappearing into the fires. She was confused, continuing to cry and thrash against her fathers hold. It was too hot.

Like her mother before her father ran with Leda tightly in his arms. He whispered things, false things like the idea that they could be okay, that it would all soon stop. It was still too hot, and her fathers grip too tight. She wailed now, thrashing against her fathers hold until he finally let go.

Leda fell from her father's arms as he was pulled by the collar of someone cloaked in a purple hue. She hit the surface of the planet with a smack and her eyes drew to a close, though beyond she could hear her father screaming her name amidst the rest of her peoples' wails. She remembered the heat, but as the blackness covered the sights and sounds she was suddenly hopeful that it was all a dream—if not, she could be comforted by the nothingness wrapping itself around her.

 ** _TODAY_**

She escaped the nothingness.

Opening her eyes Leda came face to face with a metal ceiling, yawning as she blinked. It was slate and unlike the sky, colors or not, distinguishable from any nightmare she could have. The memory always seemed to come as a nightmare after all, so it helped she could wake up reminded that she was no longer trapped.

When she sat up in her bed she faced a wall full of marks, tallies in the shape of crosses, x's, every which way and that, though by the right corner of the wall there was just a lone line. Leda considered grabbing a blade to cross it out and begin on the next wall, or maybe a rock to just dent the corner entirely. _Or_ , she reminded herself, _wait for the rest of the day to see if we need a pair_. She smiled at her own optimism for a second as she stood, though her lips twitched, taking in the rest of the wall once more. There were over a couple hundred tally's separated into mindless spots in the wall, what's stopping her from adding one more?

Eyes closed, Leda exhaled. Over two hundred light cycles ago she crashed onto the current planet, any chance of rescue more likely a capture by any incoming Galra fleets or the brutes of wayward pirates. Leda was never one to be a mechanic but remaining terrain-borne began to bother her after the first ten light cycles—but the planet was barren, save for rogue mammalians and any incoming garbage coming loose from the atmosphere. The next five cycles she ran into said mammals and found that they held dietary similarities; where they lived off of her, she could live handsomely off of their own well-cooked corpses. The next two cycles and she actually learned how to defend herself from the carnivorous creatures; three more cycles and she was given the hope of rescue.

As in routine, she found herself climbing through the maze that was her ruined ship-turned-home, crawling where the pieces were just too heavy for her to further lift and jumping over spots where planetary bugs began to hibernate—they had a deal: she didn't disturb them and they didn't disturb her. Leda became quite the acrobat to accommodate this unspoken deal, necessary for her to properly exit the rubble. Climbing atop the wounded vessel she now faced her hope: a fallen satellite. When it initially crashed down it took her nearly another ten cycles to locate and drag the mass of metal back to her ship, even more so to attempt to power it. Now Leda wasn't even sure if it was still powered by anything; the crystal in her ship long broken and thus powerless, yet every day she found herself awake at the same time, climbing the same metal structure, and sitting atop the crumbling ship while staring up at the sky.

Every day she expects something—a color, a star, yellow, blue, red. Sometimes she finds herself wishing for a purple hue to fall over the planet just so she could be anywhere but there, no longer lost and anything but alone. Every day she hopes for some sort of appearance, friend or foe, but nothing prepared her for the lights that did appear, large and fiery as they ascended upon the planet. Immediately, Leda stood, squinting at each of the two ships.

" _Ships_ …" she muttered in realization, the fire dying out revealing two distinctly colored vessels, one red and one black. "Ships!" yelling with a slight jump, she scrambled off of her fallen cargo. _Ships, they're really ships..._ At every acrobatic climb, she reminded herself that there indeed were ships and they were, in fact, coming to this planet, repeating the phrase out of hope and nearly squealing to the bugs in the corners. She wasn't spending another cycle on this planet so help her Gods, and if the incoming travelers wouldn't aid her in an escape than she figured she could just hijack their ships. That's something people did, right? Out of desperation, it wasn't an impossible idea, right?

Leda didn't have the time to consider the minutia of her plan and where it coincided with her morality, packing a sack of the important things: food, water, a weapon in case. It would be fine, she would get off this planet and by any means necessary. Tying the sack around her back she stopped again to look at the marked-up wall, x's drawn with fury, desperation, fear, and in the corner an incomplete line begging for its pair.

She smiled at the view, and for the last time, she turned away from the wall.

* * *

 _ **AN AHEAD . . .**_

hey, thanks for clicking on my oc fic. if you're getting this update from following me, welcome back to my sinkhole! if you're just wandering through the ff.n search engine, thats cool too! this is a fic i have already completed the outline for beyond my normal 'general idea' of where the story is going so please stay if interested! should i not separate more things there will be about ten chapters, poorly written if need be! i am very dedicated to finishing this project by any means necessary so, should you be willing, bare with me on this one! i've had this idea for a long while but starting college has really brought me back to finishing this. the central arc of the fic is identity, found in multiple forms beyond the character leda (cough, klance, coughcough) relating to my own personal mess as i venture into adulthood and realize who i am and where i'm going myself.

as always, reviews and pm's are welcomed as i get email notifications! thank you again for reading!


	2. Across the Rocks

Keith screamed, afraid, worried, confused. For a second he thought he could hear a voice call his name, Lances perhaps, and desperately he called out after it but the static overtook the communication line too soon. With a small curse, he shut his eyes, feeling the weightlessness of being forced through a wormhole before grabbing tightly onto Red's controls. When he opened his eyes, he was still falling; screaming now internal and fear masked with a worry for survival. Confusion he had no time for, frantically tugging on the controls in his hands while whispering useless affirmations under his breath. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"

It wasn't enough, and with a smack to the ground, he was left with black.

In the back of his head, he could feel the warm pressure of Red managing to keep him there, but Keith was beginning to enjoy the darkness, ignoring the warmth and for once opting for a frigid cold. He would have stayed there if it weren't for a sound in his comms.

 _"_ _Keith…"_ Shiro? _"Keith I'm h—,"_ the voice tampered off into static again, and Keith wasn't sure if he could confirm that it would sound again. With a few gargled sounds he awoke from the darkness, eyes opening to the pale, rocky world ahead of him with a harsh exhale. _Red…_ He felt the warmth again in the back of his mind but it was dull now, and looking at the falling lights of the controls he could figure why.

"You okay, Red?" the warmth pulsed, but barely. Keith, glad for the response, sighed in relief. "It's okay, we'll fix you up…" with another exchange of words he finally let go of his tight grip onto the controls and brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes beneath the small glass of his helmet. There was a lot to think about beyond his crash landing onto what seemed like a desolate planet. The team's first interaction with Zarkon was, of course, at the top of the list, but there was more in that single interaction he cared to consider beneath the layers of concerns he's had since becoming a man of space.

For instance, Lance. Pidge, Hunk, the princess, and Coran were all things at the top of his list of concerns; where he was comforted in the fact that he was able to be separated in the same desolate region as Shiro he was also worried by the fact that everyone else was somewhere unknown. Each a piece that was crucial together for the sake of Voltron now lost in the many galaxies. At least Shiro was here to keep them together, to guide them in their next moves…

 _Shiro…_ Keith thought back to the static on his comms. With a frown, he furrowed his eyebrows, opening the hatch at the top of Red and carefully climbing out. He had to find Shiro if he was going to make it, if _they_ were going to make it. Only Shiro could make sure the two of them got out of there alive.

The static continued. Keith dropped his head and sighed, realizing they could only make it out alive together if they lived long enough to find one another. How he would do that, he wasn't sure, scanning the sky for the smallest of hints as to what direction he may have been from the wormhole they popped out of. The luck, however, was lost; the sky filled with smog as the atmosphere of the planet could clearly be seen covered with all types of debris, holes here and there from where things fell through—.

 _Fell through._ Keith looked up, seeing a gaping hole where the Red Lion had fallen from above, scanning for anything similar in size no matter the distance. Beyond large scraps of metal and other space things, he could see something that could have possibly been where the Black Lion fell through well ahead of him. Keith kneeled back down onto Red, placing a covered hand on her back. "I'll find him." he promised in a whisper. In seconds he jumped, and when he got his bearings he began to run.

"Shiro, come in!" he called out with heavy breaths as he began to make his way across the rocky terrain. "Shiro, please!" minute after minute all Keith was met with static yet he tried and tried, grunting through climbs over large rocks, through the times he spent holding his breath crossing the darkest of pits on land larger than his own feet. He yelled, ignoring all signs of possible danger like giant footprints etched into the planet surface and a lack of life otherwise.

"Shiro!" after what seemed like hours of running he looked at the sky again, the hole where the Black Lion supposedly fell nearly on top of him yet as he looked around he couldn't see a single sign of her. Keith dropped his head, shutting his eyes as he clenched his fists by his side. "Shiro…" he whispered, less into the comms that clearly were not working and more to himself as a mantra to calm him down. "Please…"

It was in that instant he heard a growl, robotic and reverberating throughout his body and, somewhere oddly enough, his mind. A strength entered the back of his mind, not warm like Red nor cool like the darkness of unconsciousness, but slate of all feeling. _Black_. He thought, taking a near fearful breath and opening his eyes to see the world through a nearly purple haze, images rippling in and out of his vision. Unlike the wormhole, however, this color was not dangerous, instead concerned like a mother of her child. As the picture in his head became clearer he could see Shiro, grunting in pain while holding a hand to his side—a wound. _Hurt, I'm hurt…_ Keith finished the cut-off sentence as his heart began to pound. Why would Black show him this? What happened to him that she now entrusted him with her presence? The strength of her hold felt odd to him yet he let her run the course; in seconds Shiro's weak body visible as he pushed himself out of Black only to collapse onto the floor. Keith panicked, and from there the memories were hazier than before. Another figure approached the lion, perhaps a group of figures yet they walked away, all the while the image getting worse and worse until it just looked like water. When she finally released Keith he gasped, falling to his knees and grabbing a rock on the ground to keep himself steady. Black was nothing like Red, yet she entered his head just as easily. The thought scared him to his core.

But he couldn't concern himself with lion politics right now, remembering Shiro's limp body as he fell onto the rocky ground beneath his lion. The figures featured after still covered by a ripple effect in his thoughts. Were they friendly? _No_ , Keith decided, _definitely not_. Anyone who would just pick up a paladin of Voltron and separate him from his lion was definitely a threat—if not, ignorant, which made them even worse in the matter of trust. He took a deep breath. There was no way they would have disappeared from the planet yet, he would have seen or heard a ship fly out. His plan of action? Follow them. Didn't know where they went? That's okay.

Standing from his kneeled position, Keith broke into a full-on sprint. First, he had to find Black, see if he could get her to share any other information and if not see if she was even running. Then he would look for tracks; Shiro was hurt, there had to be something the open wound left behind, right? It was a space wound, and being aware of how oddly they can heal as well as damage Keith wasn't so sure his latter theory would work. He didn't care of course. He had to do anything to find Shiro, to bring him back, to make sure they both managed to _go home_.

"Shiro," Keith called as he continued in the direction of Black. "I'm coming for you, okay, just hold—," with the lion coming into view he stopped in his tracks, seeing a small figure at the base where her mouth was opened wide. "Shiro…?" he muttered, taking slow steps ahead to let the figure come into view. "Shiro!" now yelling, Keith continued his run towards the lion. As the figure grew in his vision, they turned, lo and behold Shiro himself standing upright in his paladin uniform, no part undamaged and not a surface scratched.

Keith, of course, could not care about these details, his only concern the fact that Shiro was alive and well, not captured, not hurt. The images Black showed him likely false, or old, something of a rouse to get him to just keep on trekking.

As he was feet away he began to slow his pace, dropping his arms to his side and falling into a sort of slouch. "Shiro," he spoke, stretching out a hand to his fellow paladin, about to follow with a simple, "You're okay!", before finally taking in the Shiro before him.

It looked like Shiro, but his face wasn't calm as he normally was, instead something of a mix of fear and mistrust, eyes falling all around Keith as though he were taking him in for the first time. His stance, too, was not unguarded rather the opposite; one hand clenched into a fist at his side while the other was well hidden behind his back.

Keith dropped his hand and took another step. "Shiro… Are you o—?" before he could finish the thought, Shiro's fist came colliding with the side of his face, sending Keith back a few steps out of both pure shock and part fear for the roughness of the blow. His cheek, he thought, was already bruising, his jaw adjusting itself to the pain as he turned back his attacker.

His attacker who was not Shiro. His attacker who was suddenly overcome with a soft golden glow as the paladin uniform was stripped away along with the frame of Shiro and down to a final hair. His attacker who, with all due respect, turned out to be a girl, now visible with wild eyes and hair tied back so tight it almost looked like an extension of her own skin.

"You're not Shiro." Keith was dumbfounded. With no response, the girl cried out and struck again.

* * *

Plans were not something Leda came up with often. Most of what she did was on the fly and in a rush for the sake of survival. If she did take the time to think, it was mostly minutes, and when the time came to take action, they were found to be poor thoughts. Aware of this shortcoming of hers, Leda considered taking the time to make a new plan, maybe wait to see if anyone comes to retrieve the ships or follow—to actually see if they were Galra or Galra threats that in the long run would not benefit her survival.

 _Just because you get to leave doesn't mean you're better off leaving…_ The thought crept into her head as her breathless sprint began to fall into slower steps. If she was captured by Galra again there's no assurance she could make it out, nor that she could survive another hundred of cycles in solitude.

 _Solitude_. Oh how she wished the newcomers were friendly, dumb a bit but friendly nonetheless. Shaking her head of all negative thoughts, Leda lightly slapped her cheeks to bring her headspace back to what it needed for the task at hand. Find the ship. Take the ship. Leave the planet.

 _Easy?_

Not easy.

When Leda finally cleared the rocky valleys she noticed a peculiar thing ahead of her; instead of an actual ship, or what she could consider a ship to be, she faced a giant mechanical animal almost like a lion of sorts. The color chipped at all ends though clearly black with accents here and there. If she weren't so desperate to leave the planet, she would have immediately turned to run back to her landed cruiser and waited for the next possible falling ships. _But_ , she thought with an uncomfortable swallow, _I need to leave_.

At the very thought, she felt herself grow light-headed—though not weak as a presence in the back of her head took control of all fears leaving her with definitive thoughts: take the ship, find its crew, leave the planet unscathed. The list was short enough though for a second she grew concerned at the simplicity, even more so at the fact that she considered the welfare of the possible crew. Deep down, however, Leda knew she had such little piloting and mechanical experience to handle the robeast in front of her, that instead, she would have to go out of her comfort zone and rely on others, that she would have to _trust_ others in order to make it off of the planet unscathed.

She scowled at the thought, beginning her descent down the mountain and muttering to herself about the lies in the power of teamwork, trying to convince the sudden presence in her head that they were wrong and she was right. Her agitation only made them push harder, and while she could see the appeal she was still simply not into it.

Leda's complaints didn't last long once she finally came closer to the lion, the large mass of metal nearly watching her as she made her way closer. Though it was fallen, sprawled against the ground and mouth agape, it looked anything but weak; the eyes, though empty, reminding Leda of her new task list to survive. A final step in front of the open mouth and she realized the presence was not her subconscious suddenly active but the Lion itself. For a second, she thought it nodded in agreement with her thoughts. Compelled to speak, she whispered a quiet "Weird…" before finding her hand outstretched and coming into contact with the cold white metal of the open mouth. The presence seemed joyed by the touch, though suddenly Leda felt her vision blur out and the pressure in her head was no longer directive but full of concern. The lion roared, but she couldn't be sure if that was in her head.

Slowly her eyes were filled with a purple hue, the color nearly making her let go of her hold, though the lion's presence continued to beckon her to hold on, to see something—.

To see her home.

Perhaps she was latching onto her dreams or projecting an old image but Leda suddenly felt surrounded by the warmth of her home planet. The littered sky of her current stranded situation replaced with one that was a clear blue, nearby moons visible in their distinctive colors: one red, one yellow, one blue, and one so far but so brightly white. At her feet, there were no rocks, just dirt, wet soil soaking into her toes the way they would if dancing on a submerged sponge. The thought made her hum, made her wiggle her toes in excitement at what was beneath her, but she was suddenly reminded of the fact that it was all in her head; her toes meeting fashioned straps of fabric instead of the rich earth she felt she could see.

But she _could_ see the rich earth, her people walking among it with pride under their wings, a smile that truly glowed against their pale grey skin. _Her_ pale grey skin, she was reminded by the lion's presence. They were _her_ people, safe on _her_ planet, and it was her job to get back to them.

 _Yes, she had to. She must or else—_.

The vision nearly fell static, instead replaced with a picture of a man clad in armor. Small yet tall, the white and black spotted suit was ripped, bumped, damaged and torn at the side. For a second Leda was shown his face, wincing in pain, possibly crying out because of it, but the only cries she could hear were a name over and over.

 _"_ _Shiro…?"_ it was low and she nearly missed it if it had not been for the loud repeat of the same name. Realizing the sound was no longer part of what was being shown to her, Leda immediately removed her hand from the metal surface to see where the voice was actually coming from. In the corner of her eye, a speck of a figure began to grow as they came closer, red armor similar to the one she saw in her vision. Coming closer, they called the name again, and on instinct, she felt herself change.

Physically she was no longer herself, instead replaced by the man shown in the purple-hued dreams. Grabbing what she could from his tall stature to a complete and cleaner version of his suit, Leda was replaced by someone she had never met and truly never seen; the faintest of images all she needed to become…

" _Shiro,_ you're okay!"

Leda grit her teeth as the figure stepped closer, now visible as a boy likely the same age as herself. Though she knew she was not herself to anyone around her she always hated the way they would still assume, the way that others were afforded the luxury to only know one surrounding, the way that everyone was able to hold onto some sort of truth. She watched as he dropped his guard, his arms lowered and his person lacking any sort of weaponry. He thought he was safe, and she could only twitch an eye at the mere word: _safe_.

Her muscles began to tense, and to the eye of the boy in front of her, she clenched her fist. The same second he began to question the identity in front of him she found herself striking, bone against bone as her knuckles collided with his poorly thin skin. As he stumbled back, so did she, her rising anger causing her to lose control of her change as the falsely made armor fell along with the height and every other component making this Shiro "Shiro". Instead, she was left with her own pale grey skin and torn fabrics clothing a height substantially below her earlier projected one. Leda now Leda again, though one clearly upset.

The boy in front of her now stood from his recoil, attempting to speak though she wouldn't give him the chance with another lunge and a throw of her fist. This time, however, it did not come into contact with limp skin, instead colliding with a hard translucent surface popping from the suit of the boy in front of her. _What the—?_ Leda couldn't believe her eyes, quickly stepping back as a weapon, a large red sword of sorts, suddenly appeared in his other hand.

Confused, of course, Leda continued to jump back with every one of his blows. "Who are you?" he demanded, "Wheres Shiro?" with another strike Leda finally removed her hand from behind her back, revealing a stick the size of her palm, though upon her own mental instruction it soon grew to match her height. The red one stepped back, his precaution allowing her the time to strike directly to his wrist. He grunted in pain at the contact, dropping his blade allowing Leda the chance to make one more hit, one she hoped would be across his head, but behind her, a growl was heard and the two turned to face the robeast she was so calmly touching not minutes ago.

Suddenly the space between Leda and her foe was separated by a large purple barrier, protruding from the back of the lion and expanding around her entire body. The moment the barrier began to fall the red boy broke into a run to make it to the other side, but too soon it hit the ground with a small thud, and he nearly smacked into it. For a second, the two shared at each other with narrowed eyes, each planning their attack once the barrier fell. Leda even picked her staff back up to poke at the barrier but the shocks off of it and the return of the presence in her head said a curt _no_.

"No? What do you mean, _no_?" Leda taunted the lion as she turned to face its shape in the now quarantined space, missing the shocked expression of the boys face on the other side. Suddenly she felt her mind overcome with the lions presence once more, her eyes closed as she could see visions of a Red Lion not different from the Black one itself, soon after images of the red boy she was so bent on fighting seconds ago whether in the heat of battle or with the care of a simple high five after to a corresponding blue teammate. _Keith_ , the lion said letting go of Leda's mind as she opened her eyes again. Her frown, however, remained, turning back towards the boy on the other side of the particle barrier.

" _Keith?_ " he nearly jumped at the sound of his name, though frowning immediately after as Leda scoffed. "What an ugly name…"


	3. Surviving with Another

AN AHEAD

hey i dunno if you guys noticed but i write in passive voice, a lot, and its really gross sometimes so i attempted to correct that in the ahead chapter. it was really weird to do cause the only time i don't is when i'm in first person so,,,,,,,lets see how this goes. if you know some tactics that may help me please let me know! i'm a needy young writer who hates blog ads. also just note that i'm aiming for anything between 3,000 and 5,000 a chapter just so i can get these posted efficiently and also refrain from becoming excessively wordy. classes have begun to get in the way of this a bit but i am doing a monthly challenge where i write 700 words a day on any project so lets see how this goes! again comments and pms always accepted, and i'm so glad many of you are interested in following the story!

* * *

Keith was upset Leda called his name ugly, making what she considers ugly reactions to go along with his anger. His eyes nearly bloodshot, as though this were the highest offense. Again, the red-colored blade appears in his hand seemingly from nowhere as he took a stroke at the barrier between them, eliciting a hiss sound every time he did. "THERE'S" _hiss,_ "NOTHING" _hiss,_ "WRONG" _hiss,_ "WITH" _hiss,_ "KEITH!" the final blow did not hiss, instead sending his sword flying behind him, smashing against the rock of the planet. Keith lets out a grunt as he goes to retrieve his weapon; Leda chuckles, sitting down with her legs crossed. _He must get that a lot…_

"How many of you are there?" she asks when he gets back, digging her nails in the ground to tally each of the color-spotted suits she's seen so far. Black, red, and a glimpse of blue, each a basic color in itself—the simplicity of it all made her smile, but barely and for a second. When she looked up from her marks, Leda was met with a nearly scowling Keith, eyes narrow.

"You're not the one who should be asking me questions right now, or did you forget that you physically transformed into someone else and then proceeded to attack me five seconds ago?" still visibly upset, though less than his name-induced temper tantrum, the retrieved blade in Keith's hand disappeared allowing him the freedom to cross his arms over his chest. Leda tilts her head at the light shining from the disappearing weapon, pointing to where it was.

"What's that?" Keith doesn't say a word. "Does it run off of mental commands or is it a button?" silence. "What about that shield, where does that come from?" nothing.

Leda puffs her cheeks with an exhale. It was a lot to take in; the rush of possible freedom, the sudden mental entanglement with a piece of technology she could not understand, and now a sudden entanglement with an operator of said machinery that did not start off on the right foot. She was now in territory that was foreign in so many ways, but she had to keep going. The lion in her head still there, lingering with a will that she wished was all hers.

"Have you ever been to the Demeter quadrant?" Leda didn't expect an answer to her question and still didn't receive one. "There's a planet in the far corners of three moons, close enough to the edge of the edge of its galaxy that some think it might just… Fall off…" For a second, she thought about her father telling her the same joke in her childhood, how their home was one so small and yet so large it fell into two separate realms of sorts. When he showed her this he used a small rock by the end of a pool of water, submerged enough that you could say it drowned yet close enough to the tilt in the landline that, under the right conditions and in the right light, it was still a part of their dry earth.

Leda looks up, but still no response from Keith whose eyes watch her with the same harshness they had in battle. She looked down—she couldn't blame him.

"You're not from this planet, are you?" Keith's question was subtle in its softness, still holding onto the upset feeling not far behind him though curt in a way that wasn't truly rude. Leda merely shakes her head in her reply; when she mutters how she's from nowhere near there, Keith finally sits at his side of the barrier and, surprisingly, slouches. "Who else _is_ on this planet?" he asks, and again Leda shakes her head.

"Not a who, a _what_."  
"I don't understand, there's debris of ships all over how can that be?"  
"Solitude kills."

Keith shut up at her final word, his left eye nearly twitching though Leda couldn't guess if it was fear. It was as if he was lost in thought. putting everything he witnessed in the past hour together to make sense of the situation. For a second, Leda thought he couldn't, that he would just get lost in his own mind, but he spoke; "If there's no one else here… Who could've taken Shiro?"

"The mammals…" Leda responds as her nails begin to pick at the ground. She was somehow comforted by the fact that she was having some sort of conversation with someone able to respond, but the topic of the planetary woes not her favorite to consider. The relationship between predator and prey something she's witnessed too many time in her cycles spent on the planet, and something she thought she was lucky to leave behind. "They're drawn to sudden sounds if you're close enough, and there's no need for a trap with speed like theirs. If your friend made it out of his ship there is no guarantee he made it too far with them nearly patrolling the debris."

Leda looks up in time to see Keith's eyes grow wide, his pupil falling into the whites of his eye. If she looked closer, she would have seen the way his chest rose too many times a second, his nose expanding along with it, but the shock in his eyes was enough for her to feel his worry and quickly she looks away.

"Look, this Shiro must've—,"

" _Don't_."

"Wha—?" Looking back up, Leda watches the large whites of his eyes nearly disappear as the deep dark hues of his iris enlarge and his look of worry becomes more volatile.

"Don't you dare say his name!" he completes his statement with a yell. Leda immediately taken aback, nearly scared at the look in his eyes though instead clenches her jaw. "You, you, you take him over as yourself and then act like its okay to tell me he's _dead?_ " Keith now stands, jutting out an accusatory arm by his side before flailing it over his head with the other. "You don't deserve to say his name!"

"What, Shiro?" Keith nearly yelps at her voice as she too stands to meet his height. "Shiro your friend, Shiro your comrade—,"

" _Stop!_ "

"Shiro the one you pretend to be worried about when you can't even tell the difference between him and an image of him!"

At her last words Keith lets out another loud yell, and the red blade once again appears in his hand. He thrashes against the barrier between them as if he really believes he could cut it open, while Leda readies her elongated weapon behind herself, willing the Lion to lower the barrier and let her have at it at the stupid red kid. The minute the words pass her mind, however, there's another loud and vicious growl from behind her; again Keith stops his attacks, and after a reluctant exchange with the presence in her head Leda drops her staff back into the small stick it was before. Keith, though still enraged, looks completely confused.

"She said I can't fight you."  
" _She?_ " Keith was baffled in his expressions, blinking in confusion though eyes still enraged.  
"The lion," Leda soon adds, looking back at the mechanical animal while narrowing her eyes. "she's one of your ships, you can't hear her?"

" _She?_ " Keith repeats, curt this time, and still avoiding all answers according to Leda's interpretation of events. She sighs, leaning back on her heels for a few seconds and planting her feet back into the rocky earth with a small hop. The back and forth the two were getting either of them nowhere, especially her when she came to this part of the planet to go directly somewhere.

"Okay," she starts with another exhale, back still to Keith as she stares at the Black lion in her dull yellow eyes. "my name is Leda." the Keith she faced now was a bit more relaxed at the introduction, clearly expecting more shown with a nod nearly approving of her new direction of conversation. "I am one of the last surviving members of the Grecians, a planet-hopping species destroyed by the Galra in my childhood. I ended up on this planet in escape from the captivity they held me in for revolutions, and with your help, I can finally leave—…" Leda swallows, Black felt in the back of her head again with a still strong presence. She digs her feet further into the ground to keep herself stable, wanting to chastise the being for free-floating though ending up chastising herself for forgetting the most important part of her new life mission as revealed by the Black Lion herself. "With your help, I can find the rest of my people."

With her final word, the particle barrier disappears, rising from its hold in the ground and back into the lion herself. The strength Leda fells disappearing along with it as she realizes she now stands bare to the red suit in front of her; the stick she uses as a weapon fallen on the ground feet ahead of her, and the act of picking it up sure to only light the fighting fire in her foe. Leda swallows instead, standing still, standing her ground, waiting for the other to act whether that be in a response or attack. When that takes too long, she clears her throat quite irritatingly, and ahead Keith is seen exhaling.

Keith takes a step forward, outstretching his hand and nearly encouraging Leda to fall backward onto the lion until she realizes no weapon is called, neither a shield. "Leda," he says her name in a way that sounds reluctant. Her fear of being exposed is now replaced with a near offense to his odd behavior— _so this was how he felt when she called his name ugly…_

"Shiro was— _is_ —my teammate, and I don't know what happened to have us end up here but it seems like I survived and he… He's lost out there. If you help me find Shiro, I promise to help you find the rest of your people." Keith's hand remains between the two of them, oddly placed though not cold from the lack of contact as she notices how his suit manages to cover every crevice. Leda hesitates at this, as if the armor itself is a barrier between him and his promise should she shake his hand, yet when she looks up his eyes no longer seem caught between confusion and anger and a sheer will to push through—his eyes instead seem genuine, whether that's apologetic to her case or pleading for her assistance. Leda couldn't decide which exactly he depicted in his face, instead connecting her hand with his, and with one strong pull, she shakes his hand, her thumb squeezing his as if to assert her dominance. Keith clears his throat as she does, a signal for them to stop as he again assumes his skin is bruising beneath her pressured touch. They soon break contact, Leda grinning for her own self-importance.

"So,' she breaks the tension as she plants her hands at her hips, narrowing one eye to take in Keith a bit closer with the other, specifically eying the odd curve if his ears, "what species are you?"

* * *

As soon as the lion landed safely, Pidge ran out, bypassing all the bells and whistles between the hanger and the main deck of the castle ship, nearly tripping through the opening doors while calling out the princess's name.

"Allura!" Pidge was breathless from the tired jog, short legs running out of steam causing the small paladin to slowly fall to her knees and eventually roll onto her back, heaving a low "one second—, catch… breath…" or some other string of words the Alteans couldn't exactly place. As the castle pulled into a near stop, both Allura and Coran ran over to her tired figure on the floor, Coran the one to pull her up and wake her from the daze with a gloved snap. Allura chews her bottom lip, nothing to say except for holding out a hand to rest on Pidge's arm.

"Pidge, are you okay? We could have met you in Green's hanger there's no need to run…"  
"Puffles… Trash paladins… Lion signals…"

Though she continues to try and speak, the Alteans continue to hush her down, allowing her a small rest on the cold floor. As Pidge nearly snores, Coran looks up from her now secure figure to face Allura, his expression a bit puzzled.

"How long were we in that wormhole?" he asks carefully, aware of the princesses tiring body as her arms nearly shake propping herself from her kneeling position on the floor. He couldn't guess the actual cause—a fear rooted deep within her ten thousand-year-old memory.

"Not long, I think, or maybe too long…" the words seem stuck in her throat, voice quiet as Allura nearly spaces out looking into the many reflections of light across the shining floor. Coran hums in response, the two remaining in their seated position, presumably watching Pidge's sleeping figure on the floor as if she were the ghost. Coran swallows and slowly rises to stand.

"It's not safe to stay here too long," he brings up, walking back to the control panels and beginning his many taps to the air commanding a diagnostic run of the castle from the integrated cooling systems to the complex workings of the teleduv. "Princess, you need to rest, we need you at full strength to find the rest of those lions…" no response. "Princess…?" Coran turns towards the silence, now watching as Alluras seated position has changed into a crouch, soon standing and visibly holding the green paladins sleeping figure.

"Rest, yes…" she echoes, slightly smiling in Coran's direction. "We all need rest…"

* * *

Shio was nowhere to be found. Abandoning the Black Lion, whose presence still remained alongside Leda in her own mind, Keith and Leda trekked across the rocky terrain as difficult as ever—the word meant to describe both the planets rough surface and the pinnacle of conversation between its two current inhabitants. Leda, despite Keith's constant comments against it, still believing Shiro to be dead and that their journey was towards his carcass rather than his unconscious body (which she considered to be the best outcome).

"I know he's out here, okay!" he would yell, kicking dirt and flailing his arms in the air. When their formal introductions began Keith mentioned how he wasn't that emotional of a person, how he was closed off, yet with every gesture and even every will to not say a word Leda felt as though he was an emotional mess, exposed despite all best attempts. Perhaps it was just a human thing.

"If we find him what will you do?"

"Leave this planet."

"And how exactly?" was he to call for help with another one of his odd mind-controlled suit functions, or would he or this Shiro be able to pilot the large black lion to safety? Would the lion even be able to take them? Was their a capacity, a functioning issue—?

Leda continued her tirade before she looks at Keith beside her, his face falling at her question as if he was thinking the same.

"Honestly," he eventually begins, "I have no clue." Leda frowns, expecting a better answer but not pressing further. His friend, after all, was likely dead.

At the thought, a snarl echoes beyond the rocks around them. Before they could turn, Leda finds herself armed with her staff in hand. "We need to move faster," she tells Keith the same time as he speaks, his question of "What is that?" now jumbles with another echoed yell that was louder this time.

"Mammals…" at her word, in slide a strange purple figure, first standing at the top of the rocks to which they were below and projecting a loud growl, it's tail whipping in the air behind him and nearly breaking the stone it collided with. Leda grits her teeth, recognizing the cry as a signal for others. When Keith begins to expose his sword she lays a hand out to stop him. "If you attack you'll end up just like your friend." his expression was practically aflame at her choice of words yet he lowers his fighting stance, and before the other called creatures could come into view the two break into a sprint.

A thud was felt at the ground where the slithering mammals may have jumped, but Leda couldn't care to look back. Keith, on the other hand, nearly had whiplash.

"They're like salamanders!" he yells, though Leda doesn't take the time to explain that she has no clue what a salamander is, instead directing him into the curve of an oncoming mountain.

"There!" she yells, gesturing with her free hand to a hole in the rock that, from where they currently were, looked like the size of a pea. Though she managed to fight one of the beasts off before, she was not planning to do so again, the shelter of a cave likely better as their large figures kept them from burrowing too deep into the rock. Their feet continued to hustle towards the growing hole but the thuds behind them only got closer, each holding onto their weapons for dear life as the snarls were literally in their backyard.

They would make it, _they were really going to make it!_ Leda felt her heart jump in her chest as the escape came nearer, her steps never faltering though her guard dropped making the land of what Keith called a Salamander in front of them all that more frightening. She would have stopped, fallen, tripped onto her knees had Keith not grabbed her by her wrist and pull her upwards; the technology in his armor amazing her as she watched a jetpack fly them across the creature. It still jumped up, attempting to catch them as if they were prey on a crane, but Leda gouged her staff into its flesh—er, rather the eye. Her attempts to pull it back out with the one hand, unfortunately, faltering as the mammal screamed.

The rest of them began to group together as the two practically drop into the cavern, rolling deeper into the darkness with the animals cries long behind them. If they came after their hovel they were too far in to tell, the sounds of blood pumping in Leda's ears all she could focus on as she catches her breath.

"Thank you…" she mutters between quick breaths, dropping her head to the cold floor as she lay on her stomach. Keith responds with a low hum, likely catching his breath as well, though as she looks up she realizes he's already standing, a light coming from his hand in his armor. The sight makes her groan and drop her head back to the ground.

"He's not in these caves, you know."

" _Someone_ was in them."

" _No one_ was in them." Leda finally stands, correcting him as he begins to wander further down the darkness. "You're just going to hit rock." she informs him with a tired voice, one that was laced with the defeat of traveling down the darkness of countless caves and hovels just like the one they were in. Keith, noticing the giving-up tone of hers, groans, turning to now shine the light in her direction. Leda practically hisses as she brings her arm up to cover her eyes.

"Look at the walls." he directs plainly, her eyes drawn to follow the light upwards and all around them to lock at the rock. But it's not rock, she realizes, and even if it were the inside was smoothed out in a way nature could not make without water pressure—all water streams limited to the far side of the planet, a good cycles walk from where they currently stood. "Someone's been here, Shiro or not," Keith adds the last words with a sense of hope though his expression is still a bit pained, angered, determined. It's these very qualities that make Leda slowly exhale before silently following him on his journey further into the cave.

"You owe me a new staff," her reminder is quiet yet she could still hear the small, stifled chuckle Keith lets out in response.

"Let's get off this planet first."

At the words, a small purple light appears ahead of them. Leda stops in her tracks at the sight, Keith slowly doing the same.

"Galra." the two mutter simultaneously, trading suspicious looks before deciding to go ahead.

Keith, currently the only one with a weapon, arms himself as they near a pair of slate doors. A few steps ahead, however, and they realize that the doors are busted off their own hinges, the light from the inside what gives off the purple glow, though once they bypass the broken door they realize that, too, flickers into nothing every couple of seconds.

"Must be abandoned…" Leda speaks though utterly confused. Never has she seen a Galra cruiser come into the planet's atmosphere, let alone land. She considers it being old, but the Lion whose remained quiet in her head seems to flare at the thought. _No_ , she realizes as she recalls the last few images the lion showed her, _this is not old_.

Further down the dimly lit halls and nothing comes out, Keith's sword at the ready every corner they turn and Leda's fists balled as though they could do severe damage. _If it's not old, where are they?_ Her question lingers with too many thoughts, too many fears colliding with them in the back of her mind.

"Follow me. Their control room should be this way." she continues to abide by Keith's succinct directions as they eventually pull open another pair of slate doors. His assumption correct as they are met with rows and rows of technology. Leda stands back to gape at the view, the room more sophisticated than any Galra base she was held at, but Keith runs straight to a keyboard getting the screen to pop up within seconds.

"I don't like this." Keith is now tapping away at the symbols while Leda nervously fidgets with her thumbs on her fists. Sounds play and she pops her head out the door. "Keith, this is a really bad idea," she repeats while looking down the halls, her accomplice merely shushing her as he continues to tap random buttons setting off a plethora of sirens. Leda grits her teeth. _This is really bad._

"Keith!"

"One second!"

"We're gonna die in one second, let's go!"

At the word, the whole base seems to shake, an image of an incoming ship now sprawled across the screen that previously displayed chaotic symbols. The ship, she realizes, beyond anything she has ever seen—Galran or Grecian.

" _Keith!_ " a voice is heard through the static allowing Keith to sigh. " _Keith you're all right!_ "

The two eventually find a way above ground, both them and the lions retrieved by the ship awaiting new and odd introductions. The oddest occurrence, however, still on the unnamed planet, deeper into the Galran compound where the helmet of the Black Paladin was left rolling on the floor,


	4. Two Depths

**_AN AHEAD . . ._**

oof its been quite some time hasn't it? i would sincerely apologize on behalf of laziness but i've had quite the writers block, and no detailed outline can get you out of that. i had half of this doc just sitting here and wanted to just post that but considering i already cut the first chapter in half i didn't want to make that a trend. this chapter definitely qualifies as my "i will finish this no matter how shitty it gets" statement and i am very apologetic about that. so without further a-due i present to you: this !

* * *

Lance screams, afraid, worried, confused. He finds himself calling out everyone's names, each rolling off his tongue with an increasing desperation until he finally reaches " _Keith!_ ". His mouth dries at the name reflexively swallowing back his tongue, his heart racing though his mind reminds him to stay calm. The thought receives an approving sound from Blue and Lance exhales, tightening his grip on the controls.

"What just happened?!" he hears Hunk yell over the comms, a mass of static interrupting his words though the point clear. Lance feels relief at the sound of his friend's voice.

"I dunno," he admits "but we gotta stay together!". Lance begins his attempt to move his lion closer to Hunk's before some kind of lightning springs out of the purple hue of the wormhole. Before he could react, the lightning hits them both, pushing the two out and back into the void of space.

Lance screams again, his lion unresponsive and falling straight into what seemed to be water. "Hunk!" Lance yells, receiving no response and causing his heart rate to spike back up. "Hunk you there?" not a cough nor gag was heard on the transmission except a splitting static, Lance close to calling his friends name again until a collision sets him off. The force pushes him backward into his seat, his hands still tightly wrapped around Blue's controls keeping him somewhat steady. He feels Blue in the back of his head reassuring him both he and Hunk will be safe, but the connection is weak, thin, like a promise made by a tired parent. Lance shakes off the worrying thought with another breath, his eyes squeezing tight to a shut as he focuses on resting his heart rate and assessing the situation at hand.

 _The team is gone, Hunk is here but unconscious, Blue is on a low charge, and you're currently sinking to the depths…_ The list may seem agitating to anyone, but to Lance, the designation of the now and how was comforting…ish. Lance exhaled again as he opens his eyes. Any longer and the tension would have left him with wrinkles above his head, and as his list vaguely explained this situation was just not worth it. After all, if he couldn't find the team they could likely find him—there has to be some sort of tracking device in the Lions, right? And Hunk will eventually regain consciousness so that puts a positive spin on that situation, right? Blue he could leave to rest while maybe exploring a bit, and the sinking…

Carefully Lance looks at the bottom edge of his Lions view, the darkness of the water infinite. The observation causes him to frown. He could count this as the first time he was ever dissatisfied with the look of water, hoping it to be his last though aware of the vastness of space. There's bound to be more oceans in the many galaxies he'll visit as a paladin, one of them _has_ to be worse off than this.

Shaking him out of the thought, Lance feels a thud both around and beneath him. Waiting a few seconds to be sure he was stationary, he looks through Blue's eyes once more to see that both he and Hunk (really, Yellow) landed with nothing odd beneath them. The sand they disturbed whooshing around his window. Lance nearly giggles and quickly smiles. He wants to say something to Blue, thanks, or maybe just an off-putting comment, but just thinking about her reminds him of her fading presence. He loosens his grip on the controls and delicately runs his thumb against the ends of their handles.

"You'll be okay, too," he whispers with a soft smile before completely powering off the lion and leaving out of its mouth. His armors helmet luckily adapted for the situation, covering his entire head with enough breathing room and supplying a fair amount of oxygen for the time being. Needless to say, he was at a hundred percent, and with the rate he got excited Lance knew he should aim to be back at Blue before it could hit forty just to give him some leeway.

 _Forty_ … Lance nods to himself at the number, outstretching his arms and beginning his swim in the new depths.

His armor, thankfully, was airtight. The water around him a bit heavier than the oceans on earth yet he still moved like he was always part of the water, partially in thanks from his suits jetpack. Lance couldn't tell what direction he was headed other than forwards, silently hoping to himself he could find someone that would help him back to the Lions should he venture too far out. The thought of there being some odd underwater species comforted him for a second, but then he remembered the age-old tales of the Loch-ness monster and other creatures of the deep. As if the planet could feel his fear, the earth around him seemed to move and for a second he heard someone beyond his own breaths.

"Hunk…?" he questions hesitantly, though the likelihood of his fellow paladin venturing out into the water slimmer than most. He heard a rustling again and turned to see what looked like giant seaweed moving in all directions as if they were disturbed from their stillness. Lance sighed in relief, but only tensed again as he began to venture towards that very spot, mentally preparing himself for a possible attack without any physical suspicion.

The water was quiet again save for his own breaths and treading movements, his eyes peeled in every direction on alert for anything or anyone that decided they no longer wanted him on their planet. _Could he even defend himself is someone came for him? Would his bayard work properly in water, or would it transform into something that would?_ The racing thoughts of all these questions comforted him as much as his earlier list of chaos, nonetheless they raced with an anxious energy, and if anyone looked upon his swimming figure now they would assume he was extremely paranoid.

Lances paranoia, however, was justified. His swim in the darkness coming on a soft light in the distance. The idea of a possible helpful life made him quicken his strides towards the glow, but the color purple that reflected in the water around him made his stomach churn and his limbs freeze.

Beyond the still alien seaweed was a large metal structure, Galra in nature as signified by the glowing logo on both the top of the structure and the garb of the still guards standing around every corner. They looked bored just floating in the water, one of them bringing a hand to his mouth to complete what looked like a yawn. They looked human, they always did, but Lance had to remind himself that as long as they stood for Zarkon they stood against him and his team. It was an unfortunate bias but one he needed to survive. That's exactly why he remained behind the underwater vegetation in his observation, taking mental notes and keeping an eye on his oxygen gage.

 _Eighty…_ Okay, he could work with this, right? His first job had to be returning to the lions. Maybe the power down helped Blue regain some charge and she could fly him out of there, maybe Hunk was awake and freaking out and needed his friend to assure him it was all going to be okay. What Lance knew for sure was that he did _not_ need to be anywhere near that Galra base no matter what comes in or out. He had to find everyone else, he had to get back to the castle, he had to—.

His rational stopped as Lance suddenly realized he was face to face with what looked like an actual mermaid. He narrows his eyes when the word pops into his head, rubbing the lid of his helmet as though he was cleaning out his own eyes. When they opened he was still face to face with the creature, feminine in design, brunette hair flowing in the water behind her. She was a her, right? Her figure seemed to agree with the earth dimensions, thin waist defining hips at a tail that was nearly bronze in the dark sea light. She seemed to giggle as Lance looked her over, latently assessing her colorful aura for any distinct purple markings. Before he could confirm, however, she turned to swim away, her tail nearly cutting through the water allowing her to move at a rate Lance could not compare.

"Woah, hey wait!" beginning to swim he called out to her with outstretched arms, kicking his legs as fast as he could and absolutely glad for their length, the only thing that allowed him to catch up to her aside from her abrupt stop in the water. Lance sighs of relief, and as she giggles again with a soft smile he feels heat rise into his cheeks. He opens his mouth to speak, smoothly or awkwardly he did not know as the minute his voice begins to work he instead cries out in pain, the sound of what seemed to be electricity and the feel of it reverberating throughout his body as he contorts in the water, the mermaids smile no longer soft as the ends curl into a cruel nature, and as a purple uniform comes into his peripheral vision it all falls black.

* * *

He didn't want to open his eyes. The noises around him, whether from a machine or a person, were excruciatingly loud. His teeth pressed tightly together as his body became accustomed to the room, the sound of his own pained winces mixing with the rest of the variant noises. When he was finally able to open his eyes he was met with a harsh bright white amidst a grey room.

Shiro quickly shut his eyes again. The shined slate in every corner looked too much like an operating room for his taste, the bright light nearly demeaning to his large stature. The idea made him wince again, but instead of falling into the fear he exhales, opening his eyes to take in the rest of the room. As he does he realizes it is in fact not an operating room at all, the white light merely from whatever light source was placed into the ceiling far above him and in the center of the room. He attempts to move to further investigate each corner but is reminded of the searing pain on his side, though when he looks down his earlier gnarly wound is no longer exposed but neatly bandaged, the only worrying aspect being the dark spots seeping through the opaque fabric; he was still bleeding.

He also notices he is no longer in his paladin armor; the black fabric beneath it still stuck to his skin at his legs, though the top half of his body is loosely covered by a large piece of black fabric tied around his arm, almost like a sash. The airy feel of it all comforting to him.

The comfort, unfortunately, doesn't last as Shiro is reminded he is in another alien environment—literally. As he prepared himself to stand from his still seated position, bracing for the pain of the womb, the sliding sound of a door reverberated in the cold room. Quickly he sat back down, though his muscles were tense and his arm at the ready for any attack. No wound would get in the way of him fighting for an escape from his captors if they were even that.

"Good, you're awake." a gruff voice sounds from where the room was opened, its familiarity causing Shiro to loosen his tense state and power down his arm. As they came closer he realized they were Galra, but the lack of the purple decorated armor associated with Zarkons men set him apart from the threat. _And that voice, who was that voice?_ Shiro racked his brain for the memory. It almost sounded like—!

"Ulaz…" he mutters, the details of his aided escape coming back to him in small bursts. "Ulaz!" he repeats the name with a near smile, glad he was in the hands of an ally and not the enemy, though quickly the expression faded away as he winced with pain, his hand flying to his side as he couched into a cocooning position with his feet dangling from the floor. The Galra ahead of him kneeling down to remove his arm and uncurl his body, inspecting the bandages himself.

"It looks like we haven't stopped the bleeding… This base doesn't have any medical treatment, nor did the last, but we'll have to make do until we can find your people…"

 _My people…_ As he winced again Shiro shut his eyes, picturing these very people. The paladins, _the kids_. His minds track of responsibility began to race, a replay of their last battle coming along with it, but watching Ulaz rise to stand removed him from his head and brought back some of the more important questions for now. "The last base," he repeats, again aware of the prior events, his crash landing, him falling from the mouth of his Lion, not before he was able to make contact with Keith. "That last planet, I was there with one of my teammates, the Red Paladin, is he here too?" the question was nearly pleading, especially after he noticed the face in front of him fall.

"Unfortunately you were the only one we could uncover, and as the planet was not hospitable for intelligent life our team didn't have the resources to stay too long. We were already searching for someone so you could imagine our excitement when we found not only the Black Paladin of Voltron but…" Ulaz trailed off, though his fallen face was once more soft, even if for a second.

"Truthfully," the Galran begins, his expression a bit grim though his muscles clearly relieved, "I never excepted to see you again, _Champion_."

The name sent Shiro's mind into a whirl, the sound of the word as unpleasant as when it was said by the freed prisoner on Arus but with a greater weight as he now held the true memory. It wasn't that he regretted being vicious, Shiro knew he had to do what it took to survive, but the aftershock of the pain. The poor man was always in pain, he realized, but that too wasn't his main priority.

"It's Shiro," the paladin decides to properly introduce himself, "please, call me Shiro." he flashes a delicate smile despite the now exposed wound as Ulaz tends to the bandages. In the action, he nods.

"Well Shiro, it's good to see you, especially in these new conditions." the conditions Shiro assumes to be his paladin status, his revival of the mighty team that serves as the universes only hope in the fight against Zarkon. Good conditions, yes, but something a bit wary as he is reminded of his estranged team, even more so on account of Ulaz's note that their prior planet was not suitable for life. He opens his mouth to further pry at this issue, though the Galra in front of him holds up a hand already expecting the return in conversation.

"I do intend to ask that we return to the planet seeing as we were forced to leave your lion, but for now please rest. We need to find a way to heal your wound before it spreads any further.

"Spreads?"

It is now when Shiro looks down at the removed bandages, seeing that his magical space wound indeed grew from its initial impact—whether that was from movement or if it was part of whatever festered within the wound, he could not say, but the way the scarred tissue now stretched across his abdomen was alarming, deserving the top spot on his list of issues. Ulaz quickly covers it from edge to edge with bandages again and Shiro winces, but the worry for the wound is still there, partially dangling off the fact that he said they had left the Black Lion.

"The Castle of Lions, they have healing pods, they can fix this." he vocalizes, also counting on their possible locational system to find both his and Keith's lion on the prior planet, but Ulaz mentions they have been unsuccessful in their search for the Altean beacon. "It seems you've been searching for a lot of things lately," he jokes, referencing the earlier comment that he was on the planet searching for someone else; the alien in front of him hums as what he hopes was some sort of amused response.

"We had reason to believe an escapee from one of Zarkons ships was living there, but the planet proved to be larger than any of our specs and unfortunately more dangerous."

"This escapee, were they human?" Shiro couldn't help but consider his fellow paladin's dilemma, family lost in space with no real traces in any system they could find.

"No, not human, though they may seem familiar to those on Earth." Shiro raises an eyebrow, not sure if he could remember any point in history where his home planet came into context with an alien species. "Grecian." Ulaz says, as though they were different from a human civilization. Instead of questioning him, however, Shiro merely sighs. _Of course the Greeks were aliens._

* * *

A large thud sounds in the distance, like a knock, soft but loud enough to startle Hunk from his blacked out state. He calls after the sound, thinking it was his mother at his bedroom door before the bed he was so snuggled in in his head turns out to be the cool metal floor of his lion's cockpit. It was still comforting to his laid position, but a second thud made Yellow shake a bit and Hunk rolls over, a third thud being his head as it smacks against the downside of his pilot's chair.

He groans again, a mush of words falling out of his mouth as his eyes open and he sits up. Things begin to come back, like the tampered wormhole and his and Lance screams as they were whipped out of the castle and into the wherever they are now. That's all Hunk could really remember, any other collapse likely sending him into enough shock to shut down entirely, derailing from his normal vomit reflex. Whether that was a good or bad thing he couldn't say, but he was able to stand and that seemed pretty okay—up until the point where he was face to face with a Galra cruiser.

The sight of purple made him quickly duck again, hoping to not have been seen. Seconds went by with no active response but Hunk allowed just a few more to roll on, unsure of where to go next. If he managed to start up the Lion he would definitely be noticed, if he stood up again in his all Yellow gear that would also be sure to attract the Galra eyes. He decided to settle on a small peep then, inching back up to allow his own eyes to peer out of one of the larger on the Lion.

The cruiser came into view again, but instead of reacting the same as before, Hunk takes its position into view; the front not towards him but rather next to him. He takes the lack of attention on his Lion to stand, peering further out of the open eyes to further find that the focus of the Galra cruiser was not only not on his lion but the lion next to him, Blue. He would have called out for Lance on the spot as some kind of warning, but the open mouth gave him the small assurance his friend was not in his Lion and hopefully far from the Galra's hands.

Again, Hunk crouches down in his lion, catching his breath amidst his running mind playing worried thoughts. _This…_ He finally grasps from the mess of his head; _this is not good._


End file.
